Here is a poem I had up at Poets Reading the News in October, called “Breaking”. It was written in response to the breakneck pace of news during the Kavanaugh hearings, where every hour seemed to disclose some new revelation. I found that enjambment worked well here, kept up the pace of the poem as if it were an unstoppable series of half-baked ‘events’ from beginning to end. It aims to be disorienting. Also, as a language teacher, I was intrigued by the possibility of using as many collocations as I could for break.

Breaking

I’m tired of breaking things the petulant news
always a bull breaking china breaking
into our homes like a thief
at breakneck speed we break
our backs to break our fall it’s time
to break for commercial take
a break from this record-breaking
breaking of the law and take
a moment to break down quietly
in a corner and softly mark
the breaking hours all around
us I find it’s hard to break the habit
though my will is broken broken
by the promise of broken ground
beneath our feet broken windows
in our cars broken glass in
our shoes that still need breaking
in          when will we break loose
from these broken promises
broken dreams break
free

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